Concerns mount as record heat hits parts of Europe

Countries in the Nordic region of northern Europe have recorded some of their highest-ever temperatures as the area continues to endure uncharacteristic weather conditions, linked to the same meteorological circumstances that have caused wildfires across North America.

The national meteorological institute in Finland has recorded its hottest June temperature since records began in 1844, and on Sunday the town of Kevo in Lapland recorded a temperature of 33.6 C, the hottest day recorded since 1914.

Record temperatures have also been logged across Sweden, and in Saltdal county in Norway, near the Arctic Circle, the thermometer reached 34 C, less than two degrees short of the country's record temperature.

"Much like June, July has started off with really warm temperatures," said Jari Tuovinen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

"There has been practically no rainfall this month yet. It seems like a new period of drought and heat is about to begin.

"Currently, a high-pressure front is dominating central and eastern Europe. It seems that for the moment it is not going anywhere terribly far away, but will continue to affect the wider weather patterns," he added.

According to Michael Reeder, a professor of meteorology at Monash University in Australia, events in Scandinavia are a consequence of a tropical depression that began near Japan, and caused a ripple effect worldwide, known as the Rossby Wave, which is also responsible for the extreme conditions seen in Canada.

"It's like plucking a guitar string. The disturbance spread along the jet stream," he said.

"It comes to North America, it (amplified) and produces a large high pressure system in the middle part of the atmosphere.

"So from that point of view, the high temperatures over Scandinavia are directly related to what happened in North America."

The extreme summer heat comes after unseasonably warm weather in the region last winter as well.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute reported that November 2020 was the joint warmest, with 2011, since records began in 1900, and the average temperature across the country was 4.6 C higher than usual.

In another sign of systematic weather problems, the lowest temperature recorded in the whole of Norway last November was more than 7 C higher than the average of the lowest November figure for the last 40 years.

There is also concern that wildly fluctuating levels of rainfall could cause severe drought conditions in Finland. In June, some areas recorded well below expected amounts, but other regions were significantly wetter than usual.